Strong franc impacts on summer hotel stays

Summer bookings at Swiss hotels have suffered – apparently as a result of the strong franc – falling year-on-year by 6.3 per cent in August.

Numbers of foreign guests fell by 9.4 per cent, with fewer visitors coming from Europe, new figures show.

However Asian visitors rose by 3.3 per cent, with 65 per cent more hotel guests from mainland China – a record rise for a country. South Korean visitors also rose by a healthy 21 per cent.

The biggest drop in foreign hotel guests was in visitors from the Gulf States (-61 per cent) and Europe. Dutch visitors were down 22 per cent. An 11 per cent fall among United States hotel guests was the biggest ever recorded from the country. Domestic tourism fared better, falling just 1.9 per cent.

“This result may be partly attributable to the strength of the Swiss franc,” the Federal Statistics Office said in releasing the hotel industry figures on Thursday.

In the first eight months of the year overnight stays fell by 1.7 per cent compared with the previous year, with 2.8 per cent fewer hotel guests from abroad.

Canton Graubünden reported the biggest drop in hotel stays while Fribourg was the only canton to experience a rise.